The Lecture Entitled The Sharing of Experience on the Internship in New Zealand Held Successfully

On October 18,2016, a lecture entitled “The Sharing of Experience on Internship in NewZealand” was given to all the Master and Ph.D students of the Institute forHuman Rights. Wei Zhang, the Associated Professor, Co-director of the Instituteand Thomas Appleton, the Foreign Policy Officer at New Zealand Ministry ofForeign Affairs & Trade attended the lecture. The third-year Master Studentof the Institute, Yunxiang Xu was the main lecturer.

At the very beginningof the lecture, Mr. Appleton gave a brief introduction of himself and the programof the internship in New Zealand. He then expressed his warm welcome to thestudents to work and study in New Zealand.

The main introductorypart of the lecture was given by Mr. Yunxiang Xu, which contained three parts. First,Xu has shown his experience on the studies in the University in New Zealand. Forthis part, he first introduced the two lectures he attended there, includingthe Maori Customary Law and International Law. Then he introduced severaltreaties like Treaty Waitangi and UNDRIP in New Zealand. The following part heintroduced was his tips for research, including Plan for research, form an outlineafter massive reading, marking reading notes, keep writing and thinking, anddiscuss with other people. Finally he presented his unique tips on time andtask management.

Second, Xu toldthe audience about his experience of being an intern in New Zealand HumanRights Commission. For this part, Xu first introduced the basic information andbackground about the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, then the function ofit, and several dispute resolutions thereof. Apart from that, he introduced theactivities he has attended during his time there, including the National Planof Action, the Business and Human Rights Forum, Diversity Forum, RacismCampaign, the Love Rugby, Respect Women traditionthere, and several other meetings he has ever attended.

Third, heintroduced the life he spent there, including the places of interest hevisited, the people he met, the food he enjoyed and cooked, and the specialsports he tried. The last part of his introduction concerned about the HumanRights in China, in which he viewed the Chinese human rights background in thepast, analyzed the situation for the present, and has looked forward a better future.Here he said, Parents were planning forfuture generations and that what we are. Now it’s our turn to plan for thefuture together.

At the very end ofhis presentation, Xu encouraged the first-year students to be positive for thehuman rights situation, like what Mr. Cheng Gu said, The dark nights gave me my dark eyes; I however, use them to look forlight. He then urged the students to do their best for our country’s humanrights career just like what Mr. Zexu Lin said and did, Where it to benefit my country I would lay down my life; what then isrisk to me?

After Yunxiang Xu’sintroduction, the lecture moved to the Questions and Answers part. The studentsasked several questions concerning the preparation for the program, the livingand working conditions in New Zealand, the preparations for writing the essay,and the benefits and feelings Xu got from the experience. Mr. Appleton and Xuanswered the questions respectively.

After making hiscomments on the lecture, Professor Wei Zhang closed the floor and the lectureended successfully.

Written by Yuan Lu